Focus on Improving communication with Notice Boards
- 9 Apr 2019
Why You Should Focus on Improving communication with Notice Boards
Notice boards exist on every workplace property, in every office, and every meeting room. They are there to remind workers of coming events, updates to IT systems, new procedures, and a whole plethora of other announcements that must be made. They are a perfect and timeless form of office and workplace communication – but with the rise of technology, more of our employees spend their entire working day stuck to their desk, answering emails and phone calls, with little time to escape and check a notice board.
That is why it’s so important to improve your workplace communication through your notice boards. Many notice boards fall into disuse or become overcrowded with information. Often, it is not clear who “owns” the board, and anyone is free to post material. However, this can result in information overload that then limits the effectiveness that notice boards usually have for communicating.
To improve communication using notice boards, try to follow these tips in your place of work:
1. Position your notice boards correctly
Consider the positioning of your notice boards. They should be in a populated work area, easily visible, and somewhere that is outside of immediate doorway areas. The more people that typically use this space, the better. By putting your notice boards in areas that get a lot of foot traffic, you will be ensuring that your workers will actually see the notices that are posted.
Remember that larger notice boards can easily become part of the background and will be ignored because there is too much information to interest passers-by. Use a smaller board that is positioned at eye level to attract attention to it, and make sure that it isn’t obscured by anything during the day.
2. Recruit someone to oversee the boards
If you, as a manager, do not have time to put up important notices and take down old ones, then you should look for someone in your employ who wants extra duties. Of course, if you do this, don’t expect your workers to do extra work for nothing – either give them time at the end of the day, or let them use part of their day once a week to fix up the display. Over time, notice boards will become overcrowded or their notices will go missing. Ask your employees to guard the board, or even take it in turns to post a weekly news and notice blast to keep everyone up to date.
3. Add content regularly
Now that your board is set up and you have someone looking after it, it’s time to start adding content. Before you start doing this, take down any old notices that you may have up already and start from a clean slate. This will allow you to communicate more effectively to your employees; particularly if you can make the notices creative and interesting to look at.
As for content, it would be a smart idea to split up notices that are for staff, and those that are for the public. Keep these notice boards separate – the ones for your staff members should stay inside office spaces, whereas, public boards should be in reception areas and corridors. This is because some notices may be internal staff messages that are not for public consumption, or you may have the personal information of your employees on display (birthday lists, emails etc.).
Consider the design of your notices and try to use a creative edge to make them more visually appealing. We are drawn to colour, even in a professional setting. Which means that your employees will be more likely to read the things that you post.